Summertime backcountry action is firing up in Naples and Marco Island, delivering incredible fly and artificial-only fishing. Snook are spawning near the passes and outward mangrove points, aggressively crushing early-morning topwater plugs and well-placed baitfish flies on the moving tides. Redfish are tightly hugging the shade of the mangrove roots and shallow oyster bar weedless soft plastics and shrimp-mimicking fly patterns. Meanwhile, acrobatic juvenile tarpon are rolling in the deeper backcountry bays and creeks. also schools of jack crevalle roam the channels, ready to smash fast-stripped streamers and topwater plugs.

inshore fishing has been solid with good catches of redfish, snook, and trout. Redfish are being found around mangrove shorelines and oyster bars, with some larger fish showing up in deeper channels. Snook action is steady, especially near the passes and docks, with early mornings and evenings producing the best bites. The bite is strongest around tides, particularly during incoming water. Pompano are also starting to show up along the beaches, and mangrove snapper are plentiful around deeper flats and structure. As the weather cools in the coming weeks, expect more consistent action, especially on snook and redfish.

One of the many advantages of fishing in a skiff regardless of the weather is that you can always get into those little hidden creeks despite the weather. Its almost inpossible to not hook into a snook and maybe even a tarpon or redfish on a jig or surface plug!

We've had some interesting weather over the last week but that hasn't stopped the fish from biting. Topwater bite has slowed down a little with the cooler temps. Spoons and Jigs with gulp have seemed to be the ticket lately when it comes to catching Snook and Redfish. I've also been finding some decent sized trout in 3-5 feet of water. With the new moon and east winds, it's made for some extremely low tides the great thing about having a skiff that can float in 5 inches of water gives me an advantage the larger bay boats don't have allowing you to have some great sight fishing opportunities.

Fall is here and we're starting to see the redfish moving into the backwaters. Working a gold spoon or a Jig with a paddle tail has seemed to be the ticket to get these fish to eat if you're lucky you might even get one to eat a topwater lure.